1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in a pipe cover system and more particularly, to a type of under-sink pipe protective system which includes a plurality of jackets capable of being disposed about a P-trap and waste arm pipe assembly in an under-sink pipe arrangement.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
In recent years, the need and desirability of providing a protective cover over pipe fixtures for plumbing installations has become well recognized. This is particularly important in public facilities, such as restaurants and like institutions, for unambulatory individuals and, particularly, wheelchair bound individuals. In the case of the wheelchair bound individual who attempts to move a wheelchair close to a sink, that individual suffers the risk of being sufficiently close to piping under the sink that his or her knees or lower legs will come into contact with the hot water pipe of the sink. Contact with a hot water pipe can result in a rather serious burn.
In other cases where maintenance personnel or the like attempt to repair pipes or to maintain or even inspect the pipes in an under-sink installation or in another installation, they will frequently engage one or more pieces. If there are any sharp edges present, such as on the locking nuts or the like, these personnel can easily and readily cut their hands. Inasmuch as the plumbing conditions are not particularly clean on the exterior, cuts must be treated quickly or infectious situations can result.
In the relatively recent past, and particularly in the United States, the American Disabilities Act (ADA Act) provides for a requirement to insulate under-sink piping and similar piping in plumbing fixture installations. This requirement exists in order to overcome or at least reduce the possibility of burn injury to wheelchair bound individuals and others.
There are numerous U.S. patents which disclose protective covers for hot water pipes. Representative of these patents are U.S Pat. No. 5,055,335 to Gabriel Lechuga. This reference discloses one of the first highly effective pipe covers having a longitudinally slit pipe cover jacket which can be disposed about and secured to a hot water pipe.
There are also other references disclosing injection molded pipe covers, such as vinyl injection molded, heat protective pipe covers of the type illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,598 to Helmsderfer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,739 to Helmsderfer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,463 to Helmsderfer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,412 to Helmsderfer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,730 to Trueb, et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,031 to Trueb, et al. These references all disclose various embodiments of heat protective covers for hot water pipes. The heat protective cover for hot water pipes disclosed in the Helmsderfer U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,598 is permanently installed on the pipe itself. In the other prior art references, the jacket is longitudinally slit along its length so as to be capable of having the edges adjacent the slit spread apart and then opened sufficiently to receive a pipe section. The edges of the slit are then allowed to close and held together by some fastening means, such as locking pins, or the like, as taught in the aforesaid Lechuga patent.
There are numerous problems associated with the heat protective cover systems of the type taught in certain of the prior art. First of all, they are designed for tight fitting disposition about the pipes and, hence, they are difficult install and requires effort on the part of the installer to properly position same. Moreover, the need to install locking pins in aligned apertures on opposite sides of the slit is time consuming and, in some cases, difficult to lock depending upon the space available in an under-sink installation. Each of the prior art jackets are assembled together in a desired configuration to cover a pipe assembly.
Frequently, many under-sink pipe installations comprise a J-shaped pipe and an L-shaped pipe with the L-shaped pipe connected to the short leg of J-shaped pipe. Consequently, many of the prior cover systems use a J-shaped cover or jacket and an L-shaped cover or jacket. Not only is this unnecessary, but in many cases it can be undesirable. It would be desirable to provide one cover for almost the entire J-shaped pipe and a straight pipe cover section for the straight leg of the L-shaped pipe. Moreover, the prior art cover systems use a complex fastening means, as aforesaid. It would be desirable to provide a cover system where installation, and even maintenance, could be considerably reduced. It would also be desirable to provide a cover system where the jackets are actually spaced apart from the walls of the pipe and which do not necessarily provide a snug fitting disposition thereabout.
Certain of the prior art cover assemblies rely upon an enlarged socket being formed on an end of the one of the jackets as, for example, an end of the J-shaped jacket, as well as a portion of the other jacket which extends into that socket. Frequently, there is no means to lock one jacket to the other and, hence, they are not necessarily tamper resistant.
It is, therefore, one of the primary objects of the present invention to provide a heat protective cover system for water carrying pipes comprising a plurality of jackets which are capable of being fitted about individual pipe sections in a pipe configuration, and follow the general contour of the pipe configuration.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a heat protective cover system of the type stated which provides for a unique locking mechanism for holding two jackets disposed over portions of the pipe configuration in an assembled relationship.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a heat protective cover system of the type stated which includes a longitudinal slit forming a pair of overlapping edges in a jacket for being envelopingly disposed about a pipe section and which includes unique fastening means capable of being easily and quickly operated.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a protective cover system of the type stated in which the various components of the cover system do not precisely follow the shapes of the pipes forming part of a pipe installation.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a protective cover system of the type stated which is effectively usable to fit a wide variety of pipe installations, easily installable and capable of protecting against heat burns or cuts and abrasions.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a heat protective cover system of the type stated which can be manufactured at a relatively low cost and which is highly reliable in operation.
It is another salient object of the present invention to provide a method of supplying a protective cover system about pipes of a plumbing configuration in a highly efficient manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a heat protective cover system of the type stated in which a plurality of cover pieces are assembled together about a pipe installation, and where each of the cover pieces can optionally have a non-circular cross-sectional shape.
With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement and combination of parts and components presently described and pointed out in the claims.
The present invention broadly relates to a protective cover system for disposition about hot water pipes forming part of a plumbing installation comprised of a plurality of pipes. The heat protective cover system comprises a plurality of individual jackets which are each longitudinally slit along a portion of their length forming a pair of abutable edges or surfaces which are capable of being spread apart to allow the jacket to be enveloping wrapped about individual pipe sections. The edges or surfaces are then brought back together and secured by a unique locking means, as hereinafter described. Moreover, a plurality of jacket sections are secured to one another by a unique securement means in accordance with the invention.
In order to cover a J-shaped pipe and an L-shaped pipe which are connected in such manner that the short leg of the L-shaped pipe is connected to the short leg of the J-shaped pipe to form a P-trap, the prior art utilizes a J-shaped pipe cover and an L-shaped pipe cover. In accordance with the present invention, a single cover or jacket is designed to cover the entire J-shaped pipe section as well as the short leg of the L-shaped pipe. A single cylindrically shaped elongate jacket is sized to extend over only the long leg of the L-shaped pipe.
After the various jacket sections are assembled about the individual pipe pieces, they are secured together by means of cable clamps which are literally secured to or integrally formed with the inside of each of the jackets at points in proximity to the longitudinal slit. In this way, the ends of the cable ties can be locked together and thereby physically hold the jacket on the pipe. In addition, the jackets, in one embodiment, are provided with fiber fastening strips adjacent the longitudinal slit so that the jacket sections may be easily brought together and thereby enveloping wrap the jacket about the pipe section.
In a conventional under-sink pipe installation, the J-shaped pipe has an end which is coupled to a downwardly facing opening of the L-shaped or waste arm pipe. Thus, in the prior art, the J-shaped pipe cover or jacket covered the J-shaped pipe (often referred to as the J-trap pipe), and an L-shaped pipe cover or jacket covered the L-shaped pipe. In the present invention, the jackets do not necessarily have to follow the exact contour of the pipe installation. Several embodiments of unique securement means are provided in this invention for physically securing the end of the J-shaped jacket to the straight pipe jacket. In one embodiment, the J-shaped jacket can be provided with a cylindrically shaped protrusion which extends into the downwardly facing opening of the straight jacket and releasably secured thereto by means of screw fasteners or the like.
In another embodiment of the present invention, and for each section of a pipe installation, there are provided a plurality of individual pipe covers capable of being disposed about a section of that pipe installation.
Each of the individual cover pieces may optionally have a non-circular cross-sectional shape. Moreover, certain of the pipe cover pieces will have projections extending from an abutting end of one pipe cover piece to become inserted into a socket at the end of a next adjacent cover piece. In this way, the individual pipe cover sections will not only abut against one another with a continuous outer size and shape, but there will be no noticeable bulky connection between the two. In another embodiment, a projection, which may be a circular projection, is integrally formed at the end of one pipe cover and fits within a circular socket at the bore of the next abutting pipe section. In still another embodiment, the projection on the one pipe section is provided with a locking flange and is capable of fitting into a correspondingly shaped groove in the bore of the next abutting pipe section. Other locking systems are disclosed herein.
The heat protective cover system of the invention is also uniquely designed so that it not necessarily follow the precise contour of pipes in a typical pipe configuration, such as a combination of a J-shape pipe section and an L-shape pipe section. In other words, the heat protective cover system of the invention can even hide the typical configuration of individual pipe pieces.
This invention possesses many other advantages and has other purposes which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of the forms in which it may be embodied. These forms are shown in the drawings forming a part of and accompanying the present specification. They will now be described in detail for purposes of illustrating the general principles of the invention. However, it is to be understood that the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings are not to be taken in a limiting sense.